Birthday Festivities #3

Jim's 3rd birthday celebration was this past weekend, with my entire family coming down to celebrate!!

Ashley got in on Thursday, and took care of Jim on Friday. Rob & Jenna showed up around lunchtime on Friday. And then Mom, Dad, and Allison got in later Friday evening. Just spent Friday hanging out together.

We didn't do much on Saturday, besides all hang out and watch Jim open presents and play with all his new toys. Everyone enjoyed the Elmo cake that I made, and Jim got his very own cake as well! I was hoping to be outside, and grill, but the rainy weather changed our plans. We did decide to do dinner down at Southside.

Sunday morning we all went to Church for Palm Sunday. Had a quick breakfast of bagels, and then spent the rest of the day outside. Jim got to play with all his wonderful new toys!!

What a WONDERFUL week long celebration of his birthday! We were so lucky to have everyone come down and celebrate with him :)

Jim's BirthDAY

I can't believe my little boy turned ONE on Monday!!!

I decided to take the day off to celebrate with him...And we had a GREAT day!!! There wasn't any sleeping in - I woke up when Mark went off to work, and couldn't fall back asleep, so I decided to hop in the shower. It was a good thing I did because by the time I was finished Jim was already awake. Guess he wanted to start his birthday off bright and early!

We hung out all morning - enjoying a birthday waffle with strawberries for breakfast...He was in a great mood all day long. We went and met Mark for lunch at the Silver Diner - where Jim enjoyed his first hot dog - which he devoured. He loves to eat! Then we went to a park, which Jim wasn't a fan of. I think he was overwhelmed with all the colors, the people, and how hot it was. He did not want to climb on anything, and would not let go of my leg, so we didn't last long there. Made our way back home and hung out outside the rest of the day.

Going on a walk with Maggie, and Finn and playing with them. His birthday ended in a little picnic out back!

All in all it was a GREAT birthday!!!!

12 Month Check-up

Jim had his 12 month check-up yesterday. Despite having to wait in the office for like an hour, we had a very clean bill of health!

Here are his stats:

Length - 30" - 59th percentile

Weight - 23lb. 12oz. - 65th percentile

Head - 18.5" - 69th percentile

The doctor kept saying how he's one healthy happy baby!

He got a toe prick to check his lead levels & blood count levels - and all came back normal with that. And he had to get 2 shots. He did pretty good with that. He cried for like 30 seconds, and once I gave him some fisheys he settled himself right down!

Birthday Festivities Part 1

Jim's birthday festivities kicked off the weekend of his birthday with Mark's parents and sister coming into town. They came down on Friday and brought dinner for us, and then we sang to Jim and enjoyed some birthday cake!!!

Saturday was spent hanging out with Jim, followed by dinner in Old Town at Columbia Firehouse.

They all came down to the Parkway on Sunday to watch me run the Parkway Classic 10-miler race. And then said our good-byes.

What a great way to kick off Jim's Birthday week!!! We're so lucky to have them come down and help celebrate!

ONE!!!!!!!!

Jim - you're one year old!!!! I can't believe one year ago you entered into our lives. And what an amazing year it has been! You bring such a big smile to my face - I love you Jimmers!!!

Time for the 12 month update...

What you are up to:

- LOVES to be outside!!!!

- Is now drinking whole milk - and loves that!

- Still loves to eat just about anything and everything.

- Still loves his books. We will tell him to bring a book for us to read and he'll get one and bring it over to Mark or I.

- He rubs his belly, which is the cutest thing ever!

- He shows us how big he is - 'so Big!!'

- Will wave and say bye bye to us. And his latest thing is to blow kisses, either when you say good-bye or when you say I love you Jim!

- He goes to the Doctor tomorrow for his 12 month check-up, so we'll see how much he's grown. The other day when I weighed him on our scale at home he was 24 pounds.

- Hasn't gotten any new teeth this month - still has the 4 up top, and 2 on the bottom. I love your toothy grin :)

- Still wearing size 4 diapers.

- His 12 month tops seem to be getting too small for him. Wears a lot of 18 month stuff now.

- We've started to put you in your crib upstairs when you're still awake. We do that around 9:00 (after getting your teeth brushed, and a bedtime story), and you've gotten a lot better with going to sleep without too much fussing.

Happy Birthday Jim!!!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful son. It's hard to believe that you went from this:

To this:

You are such a happy, funny, smiling little boy. You brighten up each and every one of my days!! This past year has been amazing! I couldn't have asked for anything different. I love you Jim!!!!

Many posts coming of his birthday celebrations!!!!

Goof ball

Jim is such a little goof ball. He always seem to have something in each hand. Take for instance this picture, see - 2 ping pong balls.

Or how about this picture - 2 coat hangers. We sat outside and played for awhile, and I brought a bunch of his toys out with us, and he wanted nothing to do with them. After playing we went for a run, and he still had a grip on both hangers - even falling asleep with them!

He loved the hangers the other day, so much he had to hold onto one while he was eating. He quickly realized if he was going to eat his dinner he would have to put one of them down.

And this picture just cracks me up, Jim's new way to play the piano.

Due Date Anniversary...

Too think one year today ago was Jim's due date - April 5, 2010. And one year ago today we were still sitting around awaiting the arrival of our little bundle of joy.

I can't believe he's going to be one in less than a week! What a wonderful year it has been! It's amazing how much he's changed, and how much he's learning and doing each and everyday. Can't wait to celebrate his FIRST birthday!!

Just another picture update

I don't really have anything new to report. Like I have done in the past, I will leave you with some pictures from the last week or two.

Jim got into his box of smiley cookies, and started to shake them. And before we knew it, there were smiley faces all over the floor. Mommy needs to do a better job keeping things closed up good.His shirt says 'Mom's Lucky Charm' - just a cute picture of him playing outside on St. Patrick's Day!I love this picture of him and his big eyes! And wonderful smile!

I see a lot of this when I'm fixing dinner. He's usually out in the family room playing, but then he wants to come see what I'm doing. Love how his feet are sticking through the gate.

Just a close-up of Jim watching me fix dinner.

How big is Jim?!?! This is the response we get when we ask him! How cute is he?

3 weeks

Can you believe only 3 more weeks until Jim's first birthday?!?! Crazy how fast time flies. We sure are enjoying every second of it though!! Just thought I'd leave you with two pictures of my handsome little man! (pictures taken courtesy of Aunt Allison :) )

Aunt Allison visits!!!

Aunt Allison came down and spent an entire week with Jim!! She flew in Friday evening (which she made us miss the 1st half of the Syracuse basketball game...We did make it home for the 2nd half and OT, which we then lost...) And stayed until the following Saturday. I think it's safe to say she had a wonderful time with Jim!! And Jim had a great time with her.

It was nice for him to be at home for the week too, hopefully he's finally getting rid of his cold. The weather was pretty nice so the two of them got outside for some runs and for some playing! We're so lucky that she came down to visit!

Happy 11 Months Jim!

My oh my, what a busy busy baby you are Jim!!! He's always on the go, playing with whatever he can get his hands on; whether it be his toys, the kitchen chairs, his high chair, the vacuum, shoes, you name he's playing with it!

And my oh my, how is it that you're one month away from being 1?!?! It's been an amazing 11 months with you Jim - and I can only see it getting better and better!

What Jim is up to at 11 months:

- He's WALKING!!!!!!!!

- Loves to read books! And has become a lot more vocal while he's reading.

- Has 6 teeth now - 4 on top and 2 on the bottom.

- Wearing size 4 diapers.

- Mainly wears 12 month clothes; but has worn and fit into some 18 month stuff.

- Still is nursing once in the AM and then once in the evening. And will have 3 bottles at daycare.

- Loves to eat pretty much anything and everything! I think I've said this before, I haven't found a food he doesn't like to eat.

- When we ask him where mommy's nose is, he knows!! (We're still working on him showing us where Jim's nose is...)

- Waves bye-bye, and even says 'bye' when doing that!

- Still gets very excited when Dad walks in the door from work! I can hear his truck pulling in, and I go to Jim 'Jim, who's home?' and he looks right at the front door looking for him.

- Doesn't really have a set bedtime. One week he was going to bed at 9:30, but this past week it's been 8:30. He goes down and sleeps until we wake him up around 5-5:30.

- Went to the doctor on Thursday and he weighed 22 pounds.

He's a walking machine!

Jim is a walking machine! He's all over the place now. Last night he was walking around, and even did a little 360 to get going in the other direction.

I love these pictures I took of him the other night. Look at the determination... and the concentration on his face...And how incredibly proud he is! It's awesome!

We have a walker

As Mark said on Wednesday night - we now have a professional walker on our hands!!!! He's getting more and more confident everyday. It started off that Jim would only walk between Mark & I...but now he's getting to the point where he'll let go of whatever he's holding on to and walk towards us.

Here's a video I got of him walking the other day!

Just a couple pictures from this week...

I figure everyone loves to come on here and see pictures of Jim - so I'd update with a couple pictures I took this week. Jim looked so handsome in his little polo shirt and jeans the other day, and looked so grown up. He certainly is a cutie!!

Look at that little tongue of his. He's been sticking it out more and more. I think it's his sign that he's concentrating very hard on something.

He loves to read books!!! We have a basket of books downstairs for him, and he loves to pull that out and take one book at a time and read it. He can entertain himself for a long time reading!

Syracuse vs. Georgetown

This past weekend was the Syracuse vs. Georgetown basketball game down here in D.C. We tried to get tickets to it but Georgetown made it very difficult for Syracuse fans to get tickets. They didn't want the arena to be half full with Orange fans! We went down to Clyde's right next to the Verizon Center and watched the game there. The place was packed. We had a good time visiting with a bunch of people and watching Syracuse win!

After the game we walked to Irish Times and hung out there for awhile. And through all of this Jim was wonderful!! At first I wasn't sure how he was going to do lasting through the game at the bar, but he made it through that, and then made it a couple more hours longer! What a good little boy we have. (Okay, not a good boy, but a GREAT boy!) He was a trooper - even falling asleep for a little nap in Clyde's right when the game ended and the placed was filling up, and very loud.

Grandma & Papa visit

Jim got to see all his grandparents in a span of one week! How lucky is he?!?!

Grandma & Papa came out on Sunday. They watched Jim on Monday; which was extra nice because Monday was President's day and daycare was closed. They then watched him on Thursday & Friday (after making a trip down to North Carolina to do some visiting with friends). I think it's safe to say everyone had a great time together!!! They taught Jim some new tricks, and enjoyed getting to see him dancing, walking around, finding his nose, reading stories together, wearing matching shirts, and so much more! We can't wait to do it again!

Picture Update

Just thought I'd share some pictures of Jim from the past week. It's hard just to choose a couple to upload on here.

Here's Jim sitting next to his 'First Sofa' enjoying a bowl of snacks. How adorable is he?

Look at his face - and his little teeth. He cracks me up!

Uh-oh - someone isn't very happy to be stuck behind the gate.

Checking out all his toys!

Again, I love that face!

He loves his walker! He's all over the place, and is getting so close to walking on his own!

Nanny & Papa visit

After another summertime day on Friday (Jim & mommy went for a nice long run and played outside for awhile), Nanny & Papa came on down! They got in Friday and we hung out and grilled some burgers for dinner, and played all night long!

Saturday Jim took his very first Metro ride and his first trip into D.C. We got some lunch down there and then went to the National Archives. Apparently Jim wasn't very excited by this outing as he slept the entire time we were in there. He missed out on seeing the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Oh well, I'm sure there will be many more trips down there.

We had a great time hanging out with Nanny & Papa!!!

Summertime in February?!

It got up to 73 degrees yesterday! Love getting a little taste of spring! Wednesday & Thursday when we got home, Jim & I went for a run, and then played outside until the sun started to go down. I can't wait for this weather to be here for good!!